March 20, 2010

I watched this live, and I was struck by the dullness of the crowd as they listened to words that were supposed to stir them up. This part, especially:

Sometimes I think about how I got involved in politics. I didn’t think of myself as a potential politician when I get out of college.... I was skeptical about politics and politicians, just like a lot of Americans are skeptical about politics and politicians are right now....

And I decided finally to get involved because I realized if I wasn’t willing to step up and be true to the things I believe in, then the system wouldn’t change. Every single one of you had that same kind of moment at the beginning of your careers. Maybe it was just listening to stories in your neighborhood about what was happening to people who’d been laid off of work. Maybe it was your own family experience, somebody got sick and didn’t have health care and you said something should change.

Something inspired you to get involved, and something inspired you to be a Democrat....

That really should have brought a big cheer. Obama seemed to expect something there. But he had to go on....

... instead of running as a Republican.

Still no response.

Because somewhere deep in your heart you said to yourself, I believe in an America in which we don’t just look out for ourselves, that we don’t just tell people you’re on your own, that we are proud of our individualism, we are proud of our liberty, but we also have a sense of neighborliness and a sense of community -- (applause)....

Finally some applause. It's as if they'd forgotten what being a Democrat was supposed to mean, and he had to define it for them.

And then there was the "don't do it for me" part:

But if you agree that the system is not working for ordinary families, if you’ve heard the same stories that I’ve heard everywhere, all across the country, then help us fix this system. Don't do it for me. Don’t do it for Nancy Pelosi or Harry Reid. Do it for all those people out there who are struggling....

Do it for them. Do it for people who are really scared right now....

Don’t do it for me. Don’t do it for the Democratic Party. Do it for the American people. They’re the ones who are looking for action right now. (Applause.

This is what's known as protesting too much. You know damned well he needs them to do it for him and for the Party.

> Do it for them. Do it for people who are really scared right now....

I'm one of those people who is really scared right now. I am unemployed and on the brink of homelessness. I don't expect to live much longer if I can't find a job in the next few weeks. And I can't find a job because of the filthy, vile, lying democrats who have destroyed the economy and the nation.

"I am asking you to commit political suicide on my behalf. Mine and Nancy Pelosi's legacies are on the chopping block. So let's go out there and get one for the Gipper, un, er, ah, eh, I mean let's do it for the ordinary folks."

...can only be uttered by someone who sees liberty as a relatively unimportant part of the human condition; perhaps as merely a hindrance to his greater aims. By a dictator, a thug, a despot. Not by an American president.

This morning, somewhere deep in my heart I said to myself, I believe in an America in which we don’t just look out for ourselves, that we don’t just tell people you’re on your own, that we are proud of our individualism, we are proud of our liberty, and we also have a sense of neighborliness and a sense of community.

And I said to myself that I believe in an American where everyone can look out for each other in the way they see fit, and to act in accordance with the dictates of their own conscience, without being forced to abandon their families, communities, and principles by bureaucrats and know-it-alls.

The crowd was dull because people who know they are going to their own slaughter usually do have that stunned, dull demeanor as they turn their glazed eyes toward their executioner.

That part in his speech about how they're Democrats because being a Republican means that you would never help your fellow man in need is particularly endearing. Voluntary help by reaching into your own pocket to help a fellow man in need doesn't count - only theft of your neighbour's property in pursuit of your vision of justice is moral.

That's what the Soviets did. They perverted morality so that everyone lived in opposite land.

It's hard to appreciate a speech made to spur on people to vote for something you totally disagree with, but that said, if I believed BIG government was the answer to all our problems, then the speech would affect me. Particularly the Lincoln quote, "I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true.".

Those are damn fine words there, Mr. Lincoln. Words to live or die by.

Because somewhere deep in your heart you said to yourself, I believe in an America in which we don’t just look out for ourselves, that we don’t just tell people you’re on your own, that we are proud of our individualism, we are proud of our liberty, but we also have a sense of neighborliness and a sense of community

Can it be any clearer that Obama is the anti-Kennedy Democrat? He may as well have said:

Ask not what you can do for your country- ask what your country can do for you.

He's not encouraging people to step up to the plate- he's asking people to pass around the plate.

Seriously, considering the sheer number of things Obama has reversed himself upon (to be polite), what reason does anyone of any political stripe have to believe a word that comes out of his mouth? Even if you theorize that he's not consciously lying (remember his ripping of HillaryCare over the whole individual mandate thing?) why would you have faith that he'll stand by any statement of principle?

He mumbles a lot when the teleprompter isn't feeding him the words and he sees everything through the lens of himself, which is typical of people who share his Narcissistic Personality Disorder (so go easy on him ... he's mentally ill).

When Obama says "I believe in an America in which we don’t just look out for ourselves, that we don’t just tell people you’re on your own..." he makes it sound like there are no social safety nets in place to help the less fortunate.

Someone should remind him we already provide for others in the form of social security, medicare, medicaid, unemployment insurance, food stamps, and probably at least a dozen other social programs.

And we've provided all these socialists welfare programs in spite of the fact that not one of our ancestors emmigrated to this country hoping the productive members of society would take care of them. Quite the opposite. Every one of our ancestors, except for those of us who descended from slaves, came here for freedom. Economic freedom. Religious freedom. Political freedom.

We've already given away too much of our freedom so others can be secure. We're done.

Ann's description of the speech reminds me of the show, produced by Warren Beauty, for Gary Hart at the '76(?) convention when Hart had his one shot. After all the hoopla, when Hart went into his speech, you could just see the air go out of his supporters as it suddenly hit them that what he had been saying to them for a year was a lot of tired, old platitudes and he was as phony as the politicians against whom he'd campaigned.

AlphaLiberal said...

Obama has caused conservatives to becom completely unhinged.

Nowhere near as much as Conservatives cause people like you to become unhinged.

...

Have you denounced the use of "nigger" and "faggot" and spitting on Congressmen, Ann Althouse?

Hate to tell you, but a lot of black people would be insulted by what you imply there.

I have yet to see or hear Alpha Liberal or any other lefty commentator condemn the vile use of "teabagger" to describe their fellow Americans. Mark Knoller of CBS actually used it in a tweet he sent out today as a matter of fact. No uproar over that though - because it so demonstrates their cleverness and superior intellect I guess. Hypocrites.

...I believe in an America in which we don’t just look out for ourselves, that we don’t just tell people you’re on your own, that we are proud of our individualism, we are proud of our liberty, but we also have a sense of neighborliness and a sense of community -- (applause)....

What planet (<--- strike that) What country did he grow up in?

Oh right.

Well. I grew up in and live in a country where people help each other. We are neighbors. We are communities. We were communities long before Barack Obama even knew how to spell the word.

These people donate more money voluntarily to people "red and yellow, black and white" all over the world. Because it is a good thing to do. Not because some bookkeeper clicks a key because the Feds tell her to.

These people live in communities. They clear people's driveways. They clean apartments after disabled people move. They raise money for hospital bills and funerals. They volunteer with 4-H and Boy Scouts. They deliver flowers in hospitals and Meals on Wheels. They take in kids who need a stable home and three square (there is more than one Blind Side story out there)....

I think I shall be offended, profoundly offended, by this President of the United States.

Matt, I do not condone anyone using racial slurs, calling people nazis, or promoting violence. If people are doing that (and I am sure a few are) they are the minority and are not condoned doing that.

Not that it matters, you want the faux outrage to stoke a sense of moral superiority. Government taking from people to give to others is not virtue, and even for the recipients there is a painful price for that.

More of his incompetence is on display. His willful ignorance, cognitive dissonance, and malignant narcissism is and will lead this country into a dark hole it cannot recover from. Once legislation like this is enacted as an entitlement, it will never be repealed. Can any of you stupid leftards tell me which entitlement has ever been repealed? This is on your backs and this political blood is on your hands. Your ideology is ruinous to this country. I hope you all drop dead for what you've done.

I am so hoping they pass this thing. Just watching Pelosi trying to fight back the tears come November will be worth it. Mmmm yummy, yummy, liberal tears. Sweet as honey. Reading Hatch this morning should scare the crap out of the democrats. You might pass this thing Sunday but its the first of several pieces of obamacare which will be DOA. What a bunch of maroons.

"Everyone's lower-middle class grannies are going to be goatfucked by the lack of the doc fix, but you already knew that."

It's middle class Grannies and Doc versus the next Generation payin the bill.

Given that Grannies vote and Docs hire lobbyists, I think the ones getting the undue goat attention will be those holding the bag on our exploding debt as it supernovas to become a latter-day 3rd world debtor nation.

"When Obama says "I believe in an America in which we don’t just look out for ourselves, that we don’t just tell people you’re on your own..." he makes it sound like there are no social safety nets in place to help the less fortunate."

He is a CLUELESS DOLT who understands not a whit the viewpoint of most Americans on the other side of the political fence.

The 'safety net' for the 'truly needy' has been in place for generations and is supported by both parties, and under Bush $10 trillion was spent on such programs.

It's bad enough to make such a simplistic and false slander against small-govt conservatives and Republicans on the campaign.but to tell the Democratic caucus this indicates that he actually believes this nonsense. What a tool.

"Elections have consequences. The American people and its professors lost their common sense and voted for devastating consequences."

Yup, and Althouse suspended her disbelief in all the negative baggage that came with the USURPER. Not the least of which is the fact that he is not a Natural Born Citizen (father was never a UWS Citizen). A coalition of the young and dumb, blacks, and the Intelligista (educated idiots) allowed a Usurper to occupy the WH. What did you expect Ann? It's a little late now isn't it? You should be ashamed.

Mick wrote: Yup, and Althouse suspended her disbelief in all the negative baggage that came with the USURPER. Not the least of which is the fact that he is not a Natural Born Citizen (father was never a UWS Citizen). A coalition of the young and dumb, blacks, and the Intelligista (educated idiots) allowed a Usurper to occupy the WH. What did you expect Ann? It's a little late now isn't it? You should be ashamed.

UWS? I'll admit that I haven't kept up with all the birther acronyms, but this is a new one for me.

Newham,Alpha will not show up again. He is getting brass buttons sewn on his purple SEIU shirt. He is waiting for the call.

He will be ready to march and destroy. That is what Nazi thugs do. First they throw the verbal bombs, then they make false accusations- Jews, Racists, etc., then they take to the streets causing havoc, personal injury, and destruction.

In his remarks to the House Democratic Caucus (the White House website called it “The House Democratic Congress” – talk about a sense of ownership), the president said:

I have the great pleasure of having a really nice library at the White House. And I was tooling through some of the writings of some previous Presidents and I came upon this quote by Abraham Lincoln: “I am not bound to win, but I’m bound to be true. I’m not bound to succeed, but I’m bound to live up to what light I have.”

The book he was consulting may have been They Never Said It, by Paul F. Boller and John George. If so, he missed what they said about the Lincoln passage: “This sounds like Honest Abe, but honesty compels admirers of Lincoln to admit that there is no documentary evidence for the statement.”

What you describe is what I found out about the people of the United States when I immigrated here from the Socialist Utopia of the USSR.

Well, Barack hates all of you.

In the old country, we murdered old women to get their apartments. We sold out our neighbours to the KGB for an extra ration of moldy bread. We locked women with children suffocating from asthma in hospital rooms so that we don't have to hear the mother's panicked cries. We taped the mouths of newborns in nurseries so they don't disturb the peace. Because what are humans? Not individual precious lives but an undifferentiated mass of cells born solely for the purpose of the use of the State. We drank ourselves into a daily stupor so that we did not have to face our wretched lives, which we were grateful only lasted just over half a century.

THIS is what Barack wants to build here. He is historic and transformative and this is the Great Society that he means to shape.

To this sociopath "individual" and "liberty" is just meaningless babble.

I listened to it after reading Ann's criticism. I think judging politician's speeches is one of the most subjective assessments, even when one tries to be non-biased about it.

I thought he did okay, good at times. But there was too much of it that seemed off key to me. And the delivery was only fair - he has said these things so often he is bored with them himself. I don't think the content was very good. And, an audience of conceited Congresspersons being lectured to a politician using standard political oratory cannot really be very interested in what he has to say - a dull audience that I think would be difficult to move.

Worse yet, the Lincoln quote theme of his speech might have been a fake Lincoln quote:

One of these days, he's gonna make a speech where he just repeats "the American people" for fifteen minutes. His fans will marvel at the fresh new approach, and say "he really knows the American people".

@NewHamIn any case, with the exception of the WN thing, I agree with much of what RB said re race relations:

"I think we talk about race too much. I think those problems are largely behind us. I think we can all profit by our mistakes. I think we've reached a new plateau, and I think it's going to keep going upward, that understanding and race relations, but I think, I just think that we talk about it so much that we helped create somewhat of an illusion."

BHO is some sort of Manchurian Candidate with his wiring all messed up between those Dumbo-sized ears. Someone should tell him that he's at 46% approval and if he keeps on doing the same schtick with the I,I,I, and me, me, me, he's gonna be Jimmy Carter all over again. Except instead of merely messing up on Iran like Jimmy did, he's enabled Iran to become a nuke-wielding Muslim terrorist nation---despite Eric Holder and Hillarious Rodham C.

"Because somewhere deep in your heart you said to yourself, I believe in an America in which we don’t just look out for ourselves, that we don’t just tell people you’re on your own, that we are proud of our individualism, we are proud of our liberty, but we also have a sense of neighborliness and a sense of community."

What if a future President, Sarah Palin was quoted as saying:

"We are proud of our individualism, we are proud of our liberty, but we also have a sense of neighborliness and a sense of community. Somewhere deep in your heart you said to yourself, I believe in an America in which we don’t just look out for ourselves, that we don’t just tell people you’re on your own."

Folks, there is little disagreement about "WHAT" we want.

OK, so we have some work to do on the "HOW" we get there.

From the looks of some of the comments here tonight, we got a bunch of people more than willing to get a little "dirty" in order to get this job done, but hell! I would expect no less from a self-respecting American. ;)

The president talksThe president gave a rousing, rambling speech before the House Democratic Caucus this afternoon. It wasn't so much a closing argument as it was a summation: of the bill, of the politics, of the moment, of the history, and even of the Democratic Party. When I wrote to the White House's press folks to ask why they hadn't send out the prepared remarks, they said there were none. The president was just talking, which explains the loose structure and the raw, emotional feel of the text. Here's the transcript, one of the final important documents in a long and important debate - Ezra Klein.

Given that Grannies vote and Docs hire lobbyists, I think the ones getting the undue goat attention will be those holding the bag on our exploding debt as it supernovas to become a latter-day 3rd world debtor nation.

Either way, the goats are going to enjoy the zero-sum inter-generational medicine wars before moving on to some necrophilial economic action.

Then they told us we had to pay our neighbors' mortgages. And pay more for energy to save Mother Earth. And---the straw---they're handing over hundreds of billions of our dwindling $$$ to their over-paid, under-worked "public servants" who are at war with US...all to protect THEM from losing their jobs after THEY did everything they could to ensure WE lost ours! All we got in return was a bunch of worthless IOU's (to be paid by future Congresses) and a mountain of debt.

And now, if we don't like paying for everyone else's health care on top of all that, then we've done NOTHING. That's the Dem way. Never think of or even thank taxpayers for what WE ALREADY DO. The only thing that matters is the next great giveaway they can come up with. Then, when we tell them we're bled dry, they call us vulgar, insulting names and their media pals dutifully call us a bunch of racist, bigoted thugs who are too stupid to appreciate that our "betters" just want to help us.

After health care, it will be another cause: immigration probably. If we don't make them voting citizens, then once again we'll be told we never want to do anything to help people. In that debate they'll insult us again, saying we never want to do anything to help our fellow "Americans".

Next time a Dem implies you don't want to help, ask him "When was the last time you thanked us for what we ALREADY do?!

Lefty socialists made a kudzu of state and federal rules that limited health insurance and raised costs and made insurance impossible to find -or afford- for many.

So you little turds created this mess, and then you think it's cute and funny when we try to find our way through your thicket to point out 'You use roads and insurance and send letters? That's socialist hee hee hee'.

Well, in short, stop being an ass. It's a lame and adolescent argument, which is why you make it.

"UWS? I'll admit that I haven't kept up with all the birther acronyms, but this is a new one for me."

Obviously a typo. But it illustrates the inability of the Left to think and reason. This whole abomination of Obamacare is the result of the fact that this POTUS has little attachment and allegiance to this country and it's principles. This is EXACTLY the type of man (a citizen of the world)that the founders would have barred from being POTUS. They wanted an indigenous citizen of the US, born from within. The idea of nations being led by citizens produced from within is an ancient concept. The Jews wandered the desert for 40 years so that any trace of foreign influence would be expunged before they entered their new land. Natural Born Citizens are born in a country of 2of that country's citizens.

Great post Jeanne B. Totally reflects my anger at this never-ending sense of entitlement. For me, this is finally the back-breaking straw.

You've inspired me to paraphrase your post and make one more round of emails to my congressmen and the local paper. If this abomination (Obamination?) passes, I'd be tempted to "go Gault" and pull my chips from the table, but in reality I'll probably hold out until the states have made their challenges, the courts have had their say, and the fall elections hopefully restore some balance (and enact a repeal).

How is that not responsible? Married people are often on each other's plans. Meade has not thrown himself on the mercy of Obama for his medical care, he is participating in a benefit offered by his wife's employer that is part of her total compensation. They are being responsible. Irresponsible would be for Meade not to have health insurance at all and then just go to the ER when he felt sick.

Titus: Meade can be covered by Althouse's policy because they are Married!! You could get on your husbands policy if.....oh wait. HA. Take some personal responsibility and stop being a flamer and marry a woman. Problem solved.

Actually, UW allows domestic partners to be covered as well. My husband's company covers domestic partners, as do many other entities. So Titus does not have to marry a woman. He just has to sign an affidavit.

As hellaciously destructive as the costs will be, they're not the root problem. As far as love, peace, brotherhood happiness and harmony are concerned, a transaction between a sucker and a grifter can easily work out fine for both. The problem comes when the transaction requires one or the the other side to compel the other.

No matter what new strings of words one side of the transaction comes up with to make the transaction seem right, as long as the other side is not free to say "no thanks", then it's not really a transaction --its an attack.

...it's an attack, which could be justified --think quarantine disease, draft soldiers to resist attack, taxation itself --by only by emergency.

The reason the alternative proposals in this case are so deeply hidden under a media blackout is that by their very sensible sobriety and intuitive workability they utterly belie this entire revved-up fake "emergency".

The 'tell' is, if the alternative proposals were actually dumb or unworkable, there'd be no reason for the blackout. On the contrary, they'd be daily, hourly, held up for above-the-fold ridicule.

Hey, alpha, go fuck yourself with your lies and bullshit. All you do is rewash some one else's talking points to hide the truth about your movement. It must pay well to rewrite drivel, lies, nonsense. As I said yesterday, asshole denounce this you Purple shirted Nazi bastard.

This comes from something called a source with corroboration. Not some weasel aide lying to keep his job. You Purple Shirts in SEIU do a good job. Do you march to their Horst Wessel tune Alpah? Do you have brass buttons with skulls or swaztikas on your purple shirt you sub human lying piece of shit?

No one apologized for this. Not one of your Nazi thug leaders came forward and too responsibility. Andy "fucking Hitler" Stern said nothing. j He owns your President. Six million dollars in Nazi treasure buys a lot of President.

When are you planning the Long Knives and Crystal Night? Who goes to the camps first? Granny? The cripple and the lame? The mentally handicapped? WIll you be in charge of one? Is that your reward for being the might Alpha, lord of the fighting liberals?

My deepest apologies to Althouse and other commenters for the atrocious profanity. But some times a enough is enough with liars. They must be called out and exposed to the light of day. Some times you just have to call an asshole an asshole.

Bella, no need to apologize --in fact, it was refreshing. These stooges do not even begin to understand their own political heritage, and gentler words have proven to have little power to penetrate the fantasy. They'll get it only when their idols slip the noose over their heads.